Warner Brothers has announced that “300: Rise of an Empire” will be pushed back from its August 2nd release date of this year to March 7th of next. This will place the film more in line with the March release of the first “300.” It also means that as of this moment, the only wide release on that August Friday this year is the Denzel Washington-Mark Wahlberg starrer, “2 Guns.” Catering to an entirely different audience, “Smurfs 2” opens that Wednesday.
In a statement about the date change for “Rise of an Empire,” Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution said “Moving ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ to March 7 continues in the tradition of the first ‘300,’ and kicks off the Spring movie-going season in epic style. The film is on track to become all that audiences have come to expect from the franchise.”
The first “300” was directed by Zack Snyder (the upcoming “Man of Steel”) and took in more than $70 million dollars in its March 2007 opening weekend. The movie went on to gross over $210 million domestically and another $245 million overseas.
“Rise of an Empire,” directed by Noam Murro, tells that tale of Xerxes taking on Greek general Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton, “Gangster Squad”) and is based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. Rodrigo Santoro once again plays the role Xerxes. Eva Green (“Casino Royale”) also appears in the film, playing Artemisia, commander of the Persian navy.
For now, “300: Rise of an Empire” is scheduled to be in theaters March 7, 2014.